Colonels lose early lead in 5-4 loss to Lamar

Friday

May 17, 2013 at 11:00 PMMay 17, 2013 at 11:51 PM

BEAUMONT, Texas — After scoring three runs in the first inning, the Nicholls State University baseball team saw its offense stall and pitching staff give up 11 hits in a 5-4 loss to the Lamar Cardinals on Friday at Vincent-Beck Stadium.

From staff reports

BEAUMONT, Texas — After scoring three runs in the first inning, the Nicholls State University baseball team saw its offense stall and pitching staff give up 11 hits in a 5-4 loss to the Lamar Cardinals on Friday at Vincent-Beck Stadium.Scoring three runs on four hits and chasing Lamar's starter in the first inning, the Colonels (26-28 overall, 9-17 in the Southland Conference) looked poised to roll to an early series win over the Cardinals. Instead, Lamar scored four unanswered runs in the second and third innings and put Nicholls on its heels. The Colonels tied the game at four but allowed another run in the sixth and was never able to recover taking the loss.With the loss and McNeese State's 3-1 win over Southeastern Louisiana, the Colonels are currently ninth in the SLC standings. Nicholls needs to beat Lamar combined with a McNeese loss to Southeastern Louisiana today to secure the final spot in the SLC tournament.Nicholls starter Kory Delange (6-4) struggled, allowing all five Cardinal runs on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts in the loss. Kelby Langston and Jordan McCoy came on in relief to get out of some dangerous situations in their combined 2 1/3 innings of work, but as a team, Nicholls allowed 11 total hits. Lamar's David Carver exited the game with just one out on the board in the first, but he was helped out by the relief pitchers, who combined to give up just one run on four hits for the rest of the game with two walks and six strikeouts. Hunter Perry (1-0) earned his first win of the season, while Jerin Spikes (1) earned the save after holding the Colonels scoreless in the final 1 2/3 innings.Cody Dufrene and Seth Stevens each went 2-for-4 to lead the Colonels. Stevens added an RBI, and Keith Cormier had two RBIs on a bases-clearing double in the first. Apparently the momentum from Thursday's win powered the Colonels in the opening frame, beginning with a walk to Matt Richard. After stealing second, Leo Vargas' single put runners at the corners with no outs. Cormier cleared the bags with a triple, scoring two runs for a 2-0 lead. Stevens' single scored Cormier to make it 3-0. The Colonels were unable to add to their lead, After Tyler Duplantis' bloop single put two runners on, Philip Lyons advanced them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. After Lamar made a pitching change, the inning ended with a groundout and a strikeout.Lamar (35-18, 14-12 SLC) loaded the bases in the bottom of the second after a walk, single and hit batter. After a strikeout, a single up the middle scored one to make it 3-1, with a walk bringing in another to make it 3-2. A chopper back to Delange forced out the runner at home for the second out, but another single through the right side tied the game at 3.With one out in the third, Lamar's Brad Picha homered to give the Cardinals a 4-3 lead. The Colonels tied the score at 4 in the fifth inning when Cormier scored on Lyons' unassisted grounder.Lamar scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth.